


Those sleepless nights

by Laramie



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 05:23:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6361189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those sleepless nights I gave to you</p><p>Jimmy texts Daisy for advice. When he finally gets a reply, it's very much not what he was expecting.</p><p>Written for a prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those sleepless nights

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I'll ever finish this, though I do have some vague ideas of how it would go, so I figured I'd just post what I have so far.
> 
> Warning: Mention of parent death which will likely become more prominent if I do continue.
> 
> Alt summary: Daisy and Jimmy probably know each other a little too well.

**Mon 16/03 12:31 Jimmy to Daisy: Daisy do u think it means anything if a guy walked past the cafe window and I got a boner?**  
**Thu 19/03 01:17 Jimmy to Daisy: I just thought about that guy from the other day while I got off everyone thinks of weird things sometimes though right?**  
**Fri 20/03 09:38 Jimmy to Daisy: Oh fuck a new guy just started at work and he's just . Damn what do u think this means?**  
**Fri 20/03 10:14 Jimmy to Daisy: I'm making such a cock of myself I can hardly talk to him**  
**Fri 20/03 10:15 Jimmy to Daisy: I'm never this ridiculous with girls**  
**Fri 20/03 10:26 Jimmy to Daisy: He finally just took his coat off why do I want to lick him**  
**Fri 20/03 18:44 Jimmy to Daisy: cmon daisy u can't ignore me just cause u got a new phone I helped u with Alfred the ginger menace**  
**Fri 20/03 18:58 Jimmy to Daisy: Have u fallen out with me for this? Please I didn't think u were like that**  
**Fri 20/03 19:04 Call from Daisy to Jimmy**

Jimmy had gone back to watching a gameshow on TV, and jumped when his ringtone began to play. He scrambled for his phone, which had hidden itself under his thigh. The screen showed "Daisy" as he stabbed the answer call button. "Daisy, oh my god, what's happening to me?"

"First of all, I'm not Daisy," came a very smooth, very definitely masculine voice.

"Fuck," Jimmy blurted out instantly, all the texts he had sent to this number in the last week rushing through his head in a parade of embarrassment.

"Second of all, you don't seem to understand how phone numbers work."

"Sorry," Jimmy said, flustered by the thought of everything this stranger must already know about him. "I thought - I must have put her number in wrong - she just got a new phone. I didn't - sorry."

"And thirdly, d'you want any help with that sexuality crisis you've got there?"

"I'm not having a sexuality crisis, because I'm _not gay_ ," Jimmy said with far more surety than he felt.

He could practically hear the smirk in the stranger's voice. "Because wanking over a guy and wanting to lick your male co-worker are _completely_ heterosexual things to do," came the sardonic reply.

"Shuddup," Jimmy muttered, running his thumbnail back and forth along the outer seam of his trousers. "I'm not - gay people are -"

He was interrupted before he could say anything else. "Before you finish that sentence, bear in mind that _I_ am a gay man."

"No, I - I just mean that gay people are always so _sure_. And I _have_ liked women before."

"It's almost like bisexuality is a thing," the other man drawled with a hint of mockery in his voice.

"But I _can't_ be bi," Jimmy groaned, leaning forward and sinking his head into his hand.

"What's wrong with being bi?"

"My... my mum will _not_ like it," Jimmy confessed quietly.

"Ah. Sorry."

Jimmy ran his free hand through his hair. "What's your name?" he asked suddenly, in the same moment as his accidental acquaintance said:

"Do you still live with her?"

"Er - no. Live on my own."

"What was it that you said?"

"What's your name?" Jimmy repeated.

"Thomas. Yours?"

"Jimmy."

"Well, Jimmy, as much as it's horrible not to be accepted, at least you're not in danger of being homeless. What about your dad?"

Jimmy was torn between telling the truth, and his usual lie that his dad was working in Australia for a year. "He died."

"I'm sorry to hear it."

"Yeah, well..." Jimmy trailed off, and there was a slightly awkward pause between them.

"Where do you live?" Thomas asked. "I'm in York."

"You're kiddin'?" Jimmy replied. "Not like New York or some shit? Actual, genuine York in Yorkshire, England?"

"That's the one."

"I live in the same fuckin' city!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Great! How about we meet for a drink?" Thomas suggested. "We could talk about that sexuality crisis you're not having."

Jimmy suddenly lost the ability to feel his extremities. "Okay."

"Okay," Thomas echoed. "St John Street is pretty central. D'you know The Fox?"

"Yeah. I could be there in..." The Fox was 20 minutes away. Jimmy thought about his probably-ruined hair, which he had run his fingers through earlier. "40 minutes?"

"Right. Great. See you soon?"

"Yeah. Later."

Jimmy hung up the phone.

Well. He hadn't been expecting that when he'd started texting Daisy.

45 minutes later - hair restyled, clothes changed, and a few banknotes slipped into a pocket of his jeans - Jimmy sauntered into The Fox and suddenly realised that he had no idea how to figure out which of the dozens of people squashed into the bar was Thomas. Having updated the contact for Thomas's number to reflect its true owner, Jimmy tapped in his name to make a call.

**Fri 20/03 19:59 Call from Jimmy to Thomas**

After a moment, Jimmy faintly heard a song playing, which seemed to be a phone ringtone; but, in the bustle, he couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then the call connected and he heard through his phone's speaker: "Hello?"

"I'm inside," Jimmy said into the phone. "You here?"

"Yep. You the hot blonde by the door, lookin' lost?"

"I don't look _lost_ ," Jimmy snapped.

"I'll take that as a yes. I'm at the bar, waving."

Jimmy looked up at the mill of people, quickly identifying a dark-haired man with one elegant hand up by his shoulder who was looking at him. Jimmy smiled in greeting as he made his way over, hanging up the phone and sliding it into his pocket. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Thomas replied, giving Jimmy a rather unsubtle once-over.

Jimmy's skin prickled, which he told himself was because Thomas's look made him uncomfortable. He hopped onto the stool next to Thomas, which was miraculously unoccupied. The knowing glance that the bartender shot at Thomas suggested that Jimmy's companion had something to do with it being vacant.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked. She was a pretty woman with dark hair, and once Jimmy had ordered a beer she smiled absently as she handed over Jimmy's drink and change.

Clutching the glass, Jimmy turned back to Thomas and found that he needed a sip of beer to wet his mouth.

Thomas smiled, small and awkward, his eyes flickering from Jimmy's face to the glass he had his hand wrapped around on the bar. "So, how long has this... stuff... been going on?"


End file.
